African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyo Zungula has called on the Constitutional Court to throw out an application by President Cyril Ramaphosa to review and set aside a report by an independent panel which found that the president may have broken anticorruption laws.
Zungula said the apex court should not be seized with the matter, whether by way of exclusive jurisdiction or by direct access, as the report was not reviewable.
“Even if it is reviewable, the president has not made out a case for this relief. In the circumstances, the application falls to be dismissed with costs including the costs of three counsel,” Zungula said in his answering affidavit, dated December 12 and filed in opposition to the relief sought by Ramaphosa.
The three-member section 89 panel, headed by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and including retired judge Thoko Masipa and advocate Mahlape Sello, recommended that Ramaphosa face an impeachment inquiry.
On Tuesday, MPs are expected to vote on whether such an impeachment process should get under way.
In June, former spy boss Arthur Fraser opened a criminal case against Ramaphosa, accusing him of offences including money laundering and an unlawful cover-up of a robbery at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo, where at least $580,000 was stolen.
In his affidavit, Ramaphosa said the panel failed to reject what he says was inadmissible evidence made public by Fraser. He said the panel could not distinguish between “information and evidence”, and dismissed Fraser’s allegations as hearsay.
In his opposing affidavit, Zungula hit back at Ramaphosa’s assertions, saying: “It is clear from the panel’s report that it considered the surrounding information that is independent of the hearsay evidence. This is clear from the report itself, but omitted by the president.”
Zungula said it was not the panel’s role to verify or exclude evidence.
“This is done by the impeachment committee,” he said, adding “it is incorrect to contend that the panel blindly applied hearsay evidence. It did not do so.”
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